


Welcome to Sunny Hell

by Heart_Seoul_Soshi



Series: Needing to Know the Plural of Apocalypse [1]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 04:17:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13333326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heart_Seoul_Soshi/pseuds/Heart_Seoul_Soshi
Summary: In every generation there is a chosen one. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness—she is the Slayer. This time it's Evie Summers, high school student. And together with her friends, and her Watcher, she's out to save the world.





	Welcome to Sunny Hell

**Author's Note:**

> for @carsonnieve and @acousticinfinity on tumblr

Soft sheets, a silky cocoon of warmth and comfort. Plush,  _so_ plush pillows. Like laying on a cloud. Several clouds, in point of fact. A line of familiar, well-loved stuffed animals resting soundly at the foot of the bed. Birds chirping and tweeting outside the window. Streams of morning sunlight utterly warming the room.  
  
“Eeeeeevie!!”  
  
A shrill voice jarring the air and shattering the delicate glass world of Evie’s dreams.   
  
The sunlight wrenched her eyes open with several blinks and a long squint, followed by the horrendously powerful urge to pull the covers up over her face. She didn’t even need to find her voice long enough to answer, or acknowledge. At the foot of the staircase, her mother carried on regardless.  
  
“Up, my dear! We can’t have you late on your first day of school!”  
  
Evie both marveled at and feared how well that voice traveled up an entire flight of stairs, down a hall, and through a closed door. The urge to bury herself under the covers was joined by one to wrap a pillow around her ears. Mother only tolerated lateness if it was “fashionable” lateness—it was amazing just how many things her mom would tolerate so long as they were fashionable…Evie being one of them. But the grace of fashionable lateness didn’t extend to her mother’s demands to be promptly and properly answered, for the queen of the household did not and would not take too kindly to being ignored.  
  
“…Okay, mom. I’m getting ready,” Evie called back, fighting her way into a sitting position and rubbing her eyes.  
  
Evie didn’t get anything else in return, but she knew her mom had heard her.  
  
A bit of a slow start gave way to Evie picking up speed after showering. A blue chiffon blouse with tastefully frilly sleeves and a black skirt were what she’d settled on the night before, and her outfit waiting neatly on a hanger as she toweled off was what saved her tremendous time. The longest ever part of her morning routine was arguably the mirror, sitting in front of it to perfect her makeup, and the dark blue of her hair.  
  
Flawless. Picture perfect. Evie in a nutshell as she slipped her bag over her shoulder and admired her reflection one last time.  
  
“It’s just one first day,” she said to herself in the mirror. “You’ve handled first days plenty of times before.”  
  
Sure, she said the words. Saw her beautiful reflection nodding along to them in agreement.  
  
“…Everything will be fine.”  
  
Saying the words was easy. Believing them was not.

* * *

Sitting in front of the principal’s desk on her first day of school did not bode well. Even if it was just to get her bearings and her schedule, Evie didn’t take it as a good sign.  
  
“Welcome to Sunnydale High, dear.”  
  
She struck Evie as more cherubic nanny than principal, like she was better suited for the life of a kindly woman in an enchanted forest cottage, taking in children who lost their way to warm them by the hearth and feed them freshly baked pies (minus the horrific fairytale twist of luring said children into the oven to serve as her next meal).  
  
The principal was eyeing Evie’s transcripts as she settled into her chair, a pleasant smile ever present on her face despite what Evie knew was quite a colorful history on her records.  
  
“It looks like you ran into a bit of trouble at your last school, Evie.”  
  
Evie tried to match the principal’s easygoing smile. It came out with a definite nervous edge.  
  
“You don’t have to sugarcoat it, Ms…” Evie glanced at the nameplate on the desk. “Ms. G. I know it’s bad. I burned down the gym.”  
  
“Yes…” Ms. G’s smile faltered for only a split second as her eyes honed right in on that little note in Evie’s records. “An unfortunate thing, but I’m sure it was an accident.”  
  
“It was,” Evie blatantly lied. “It was just a little prank between friends…got out of hand.”  
  
“Well my dear, that was then, and this is now,” the principal slipped Evie’s records into a desk drawer; out of sight, out of mind. “You get a fresh start here in Sunnydale, a chance to put it all behind you. And as I always say, don’t focus on the past or you’ll miss the future.”  
  
A fresh start. A chance to put it behind her. Evie liked the sound of that.  
  
“So, here’s your class schedule, a school map, and some last little registration details,” Ms. G slid a handful of papers across the desk to Evie. “You and your mother can fill those out tonight and bring them back to the office tomorrow.”  
  
Goody.  
  
“Thank you,” Evie politely said.  
  
“You’re very welcome. Enjoy your first day, my dear, I know you’ll do great. And should you have any questions, my office is always open.”  
  
Another gracious round of thanks, a gathering up of the papers, and Evie ducked out of the principal’s office. At least she survived  _that_. Burning down the gym, she was sure that would get her. Alright, so arson was never a thing to be taken lightly, but it was for the good of her school and the entire student body. And did anyone thank her? Of course not.  
  
While Evie wandered around with the map in front of her face inside, a tall boy was racing along the sidewalk outside, his long hair bouncing side to side and whipping in front of his face entirely as he nimbly hurdled the low stone wall ringing the school.  
  
“Carlos!!” he called out.  
  
A smaller boy making his way up the stone steps stopped when he heard his name, his backpack slung over one shoulder. He already knew.  
  
“Jay, you aren’t copying my homework this time,” he said bluntly.  
  
Jay skidded to a stop at the first stair, before taking them two at a time to walk alongside Carlos.  
  
“Are you kidding me?” he demanded. “Why not?”  
  
“Because it’s cheating, the teacher’s gonna find out, and also, it’s cheating.”  
  
“Since when did you become such an upstanding citizen?” Jay grumbled.  
  
Together, they walked through the school’s front doors and into the wide lobby, bustling with students traveling this way and that as the first period bell would be ringing within minutes.  
  
“Here comes Doug,” Carlos nodded at the boy approaching them. “Why don’t you try suckering him into getting you a passing grade?”  
  
A devious sneer curled Jay’s lips.  
  
“…Are you calling me a sucker?”  
  
Carlos didn’t even have time to blink before Jay’s arm was hooked around his neck, and rough knuckles were burning his head in a noogie.  
  
“Jay! Jay!! Quit it!” Carlos’ distinctive shriek went unnoticed to the crowd, the general campus population fairly used to him shrieking and screeching his way through the day, especially when Jay was around.  
  
He struggled to break loose, to no avail, his only salvation being Doug finally reaching them.  
  
“Hey, did you guys hear? A new girl starts school today,” he said.  
  
Jay let go of Carlos and ended his roughhousing with a playful shove, meeting Doug’s eyes.  
  
“Have you seen her?” Jay asked.  
  
“No. You?”  
  
“Nope.”  
  
Carlos fussed with his hair, lagging slightly behind because of it as the trio strolled along down the halls.  
  
“I heard she’s from Los Angeles, though,” Doug added.  
  
Jay’s little chuckle was more of a scoff.  
  
“What brings a big shot L.A. girl to a one-Starbucks town like Sunnydale?” he wondered.  
  
Doug could only offer up a shrug.  
  
Jay looked up in time to catch sight of the hallway clock, the minute hand creeping closer and closer to 8:30. Jay certainly wasn’t student of the year, but he stuck to his own personal academic code—you either show up without homework, or you show up late. One or the other. Never both.  
  
“Later,” he said to the other two, somewhat urgently, giving one single wave before he took off down the corridor to start for his first period class.  
  
He rounded the corner so sharply and so quickly that he ran smack into someone, and with his solid, athletic body, she bounced right off of him and went tumbling to the floor, papers and pencils spilling out of her bag.  
  
“Oh, shoot! I’m sorry!”  
  
He crouched down right away, gathering up the mess.  
  
“…Wow, okay, no offense, but walking into you is like walking into a brick wall,” the girl said, hands automatically reaching up to make sure her hair was still flawless.  
  
“None taken,” Jay laughed. “Comes in handy. You should see me cut a path right to the vending machine.”  
  
Jay handed the papers over, along with the pencils.  
  
“Sorry again.”  
  
Mess taken care of, and the girl back on her feet, Jay realized he didn’t recognize her. And in a small school like Sunnydale High, one would definitely recognize and remember a girl with blue hair.  
  
“…Are you the new girl?” he asked.  
  
She seemed surprised that she was apparently the topic of the school gossip.  
  
“That’s me. My name’s Evie.”  
  
“I’m Jay.”  
  
They shook hands.  
  
“Need help finding your first class or something?” Jay asked.  
  
“Oh, no, it’s right here,” Evie tilted her head at the door across from them. “Thank you, though.”  
  
“No problem. Okay then, see you around.”  
  
Jay took off again, hurrying to make it before the bell sounded.  
  
Evie survived that too, her first meeting with one of the Sunnydale High crowd. Jay seemed nice, friendly. Not morbidly interested in her “new girl” status, which she was admittedly grateful for.  
  
She wasn’t grateful for the packed classroom she walked into, though. With just minutes to spare, only one desk was left free. At the very back of the room in a dusty corner, a seating arrangement typically reserved for weird kids and troublemakers, two titles that Evie did not want to set herself up for right off the bat by being relegated to such a desk. Unbeknownst to her, a pair of smoky, calculating eyes were watching Evie with interest, belonging to the one girl in the room who appeared to have just as much style and fashion sense as she did.  
  
“You,” she snapped at the meek and mousy kid sitting beside her. “Up.”  
  
He moved without question, jumping from his chair like he’d been zapped by lightning and grabbing his backpack before scurrying to the desk at the back.  
  
Evie only noticed the girl when she started waving at her, pointing to the now-empty desk beside her. Evie hadn’t seen the exchange take place, but wasn’t going to pass up the chance for a better seat.  
  
“Hi,” the girl waved again as Evie settled in. “I’m Audrey. Love your outfit!”  
  
Evie smiled.  
  
“Oh, thank you. I’m Evie. Love your nails.”  
  
Evie had caught sight of perfectly painted baby pink.  
  
“Good eyes,” Audrey ran her nails through her brown waves as if to show off. “Welcome to Sunnydale.”  
  
Evie’s second encounter with one of the Sunnydale crowd. Things were going better than she expected.  
  
Except for when class actually started, and Evie, having arrived a month after the beginning of school, was utterly lost as the teacher droned on and on with the history lesson. She took notes as best she could, figuring it looked like she had a long night of playing catch-up ahead of her, but before she knew it, the bell was ringing again and ending first period. The telltale sounds of chair legs scraping and backpacks zipping sprang up right on the dot, almost drowning out the teacher’s last minute request to read pages 107 through 111 as homework. Almost drowning it out, but not quite.  
  
Audrey, daintily fitting her binder into her shoulder bag, looked across the aisle in time to see Evie’s face going blank.  
  
“Hm, you don’t have a textbook, do you?” she realized.  
  
Evie shook her head with a shy smile.  
  
“The library’s just a couple halls over, you have time to check one out real fast before second period. Come on, I’ll show you.”  
  
Evie stuck close by the girl as they walked out into the hallway together. She noticed how students seemed to swerve a wide path around Audrey, not daring to get anything remotely close to in her way.  
  
“So, I hear you’re from L.A.?” Audrey started up conversation.  
  
“Born and raised,” Evie told her.  
  
“Ugh, lucky. I would kill to live in L.A. Totally moving there after graduation, I’ll be an actress or a model or something.”  
  
“I can see that,” Evie agreed. “I want to be a fashion designer.”  
  
“And I can see  _that_ ,” Audrey said right back. “Tell you what, you design the clothes, I’ll model them.”  
  
“Deal,” Evie giggled, feeling the hope of making a new friend beginning to spring to life.   
  
Just ahead of them was a boy waiting by a water fountain, casually leaning back against the wall and idly scratching his fingers through his white hair. Audrey came to a stop in front of him with a terrible glint in her eyes.  
  
“What’s the deal, Carlos? Fleas getting you down again?” she jeered.  
  
Evie heard the hard edge in her voice, and knew right away that this wasn’t playful banter between friends. Carlos’ eyes narrowed, but the slight shine in them betrayed any semblance of toughness he tried to show.  
  
“Very funny, Audrey,” he muttered, glancing off to the side.  
  
“It would be, if it weren’t so sad. Now shoo, can’t you see we’re walking here?”  
  
Carlos rolled his eyes, but nevertheless took off, feet carrying him away from Audrey as fast as they could short of breaking into a run.  
  
“I’m sure a girl like you will be part of our popular crowd in no time, so the only advice I have for you is to know your losers. Once you can identify them all by sight, they are  _much_  easier to avoid,” Audrey matter-of-factly explained.   
  
“…I’ll remember that,” Evie stiffly said.  
  
So Audrey dropped her off at the library, in front of a pair of heavy and almost foreboding swinging doors, before leaving for her second period.  
  
Foreboding indeed as Evie stepped inside, the high windows filtering down very little light this time of morning and the smell of hundreds of old books settling a dark, gothic feel over the library. The large front counter was unmanned, and Evie didn’t spot a single soul wandering amongst the shelves.  
  
“…Hello?” she called out.  
  
A head sprang up from behind the counter like a jack-in-the-box, followed by the rest of the body as a guy just about Evie’s age rose to his feet.  
  
“Hello!” he greeted her.    
  
Evie was a little confused.  
  
“…Are you the librarian?”   
  
He was way too young.  
  
“Me? No, I’m the librarian’s aide. But I might as well be librarian, as often as I’m here. I’m Ben, Ben Florian. And…” his eyes suddenly sparkled. “…Are you Evie Summers?”  
  
“Everyone’s heard of me.”  
  
Ben grinned widely.  
  
“Excellent. I have just the book for you,” he eagerly ducked back down, and Evie heard the sound of rustling.   
  
The thud of a massive tome being dropped onto the counter was  _not_  a sound she was expecting.  
  
It was ancient, a book with actual rusty metal clasps binding it shut. Pages yellowed, corners softened with age, cover worn and faded. The only thing clear was the embossed title of thick golden letters: “VAMPYR”.  
  
Evie swore she almost felt dizzy, eyes widening before glazing over a bit as they locked onto that one gruesome word.  
  
How foolish of her to think that this day might actually go well.  
  
“…That wasn’t what I was looking for,” she strained to find her voice.  
  
Ben frowned.  
  
“…What? But you're—”  
  
“I’ll come back later,” Evie interrupted, tearing her gaze away and trying to blink herself back to reality.  
  
She spun on her heels so fast that  _that_  almost made her dizzy as well.  
  
“…Hey, wait a minute—”  
  
Evie wasn’t listening. Heartbeat thudding in her chest and in her ears, she bolted back out through the double doors and disappeared in the passing period crowd.

* * *

Audrey knew what she was talking about when she said Evie would soon be part of the popular crowd. Beautiful, and charming, and fashionable, Evie  _was_  the popular crowd. She was used to attention, often relished it, in fact. But come lunchtime, the little library mishap had her somewhat drained, in no mood to seek out the spotlight. So to avoid any clamoring over the new girl, she strayed from the packed cafeteria to wander out through the grassy courtyard behind the school. That was where she saw Carlos, sitting alone on a bench and gazing thoughtfully into the distance as he munched on a sandwich. Her shoes treaded softly along the grass, so softly that the boy didn’t hear her approach.  
  
“…Hi, you’re Carlos, right?” she asked, standing over him.  
  
He looked up at her mid-chew, eyes sparking with suspicion.  
  
“Why?” he seemed to say reflexively. “I mean, yeah, I am. And you’re Evie, Jay told me he ran into you this morning…literally.”  
  
Evie laughed, sitting down next to Carlos.  
  
“So you and Jay are friends?”  
  
“Best friends,” Carlos nodded. “You must miss all of your friends back in L.A., huh?”  
  
Evie was struck by the thought.  
  
“…Not as much as you’d think, actually.”  
  
Carlos gave a thoughtful little “hm” as if he knew the feeling.  
  
He had the sweetest face, the sort that could brighten anyone’s day with the kindest of smiles. Evie wondered what sort of person Audrey must be to spitefully pick on someone like Carlos.  
  
“I’m actually glad I found you out here,” Evie said.  
  
And there it was, the kindest of smiles lighting up Carlos’ face. Evie knew she’d read him right.  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Yeah, you see, I’m only four classes into the schoolday and I’m already behind in all of them,” Evie began.  
  
“The new kid struggles,” Carlos nodded in understanding.  
  
“Right? And I heard that you’re the one to go to for homework help, so…”  
  
“Sure, no problem!” Carlos said eagerly. “I have some time free after school, if you wanted to meet in the library.”  
  
Evie froze.  
  
“…Um, maybe not there? I went to the library earlier, it gives me the creeps,” she shyly said.  
  
“It’ll do that,” Carlos laughed. “It’s like pulling teeth to get the librarian to actually do his job, but it’s so much better now that there’s a new library aide.”  
  
Evie’s eyes narrowed just a bit.  
  
“New?” she repeated.  
  
“Yeah, Ben Florian. He would’ve been a sophomore like us, but he took all these extra courses to clear his credits and graduated early last year. He came back just a couple weeks ago to work in the library.”  
  
An interesting coincidence, except Evie didn’t really believe in coincidence. Or leprechauns.   
  
Jay suddenly appeared from nowhere, vaulting over the back of the bench and landing nimbly in between Evie and Carlos like that was how he took a seat every day of his life. Evie’s peripheral vision caught sight of a boy with glasses walking _around_ the bench like a normal person to stand in front of them.  
  
“Doug, Evie. Evie, Doug,” Jay quickly introduced them.  
  
“Hi,” Doug smiled at her.  
  
“Hi,” Evie greeted back happily. “It’s really nice to have met you all. I hope we can be friends.”  
  
“Of course we can,” Carlos assured her.  
  
“It’s not like we have anything else better to do,” Jay teased, before being promptly elbowed by Carlos.  
  
“Hey Evie, if you aren’t busy tonight, you could come hang with us at The Isle,” Carlos said.  
  
“The Isle?”  
  
“The coolest nightclub in Sunnydale,” Doug explained.  
  
Jay rolled his eyes.  
  
“That’s because it’s the  _only_  nightclub in Sunnydale.”  
  
“True,” Carlos nodded. “But it’s still the place to be.”  
  
“Sounds like fun! I’ll be there,” Evie said.  
  
Carlos’ cute face lit up again.  
  
“Awesome. It’s in the bad part of town, you can’t miss it. We’re all meeting there around seven.”  
  
“Seven,” Evie repeated the word to herself with a little nod, cementing it in her mind. “Cool.”  
  
“There you are!”  
  
Audrey came stomping across the grass, eyes locked on Evie. She stopped in her tracks when she saw the others, a very confused look on her face.  
  
“What are you doing with these guys?” she demanded.  
  
“Sitting,” Evie answered with a tiny smirk.  
  
Audrey shook her head in a silent “Ugh, whatever”.  
  
“Okay, Evie, I’ve been looking all over for you. You and I won’t be having fifth period P.E., class is cancelled because of the dead kid in the locker room,” Audrey said with a startling sense of nonchalance.  
  
Evie’s blood turned to ice in her veins. Oh, how this was not her day.  
  
“…What?” her voice was a strained whisper.  
  
“What are you talking about?” Jay spoke louder.  
  
“They found some guy shoved into a locker in the girls’ locker room, like he’d been there all weekend or something! Can you believe that??”  
  
“How did he die?” Evie didn’t remember making the conscious decision to say the words. “Were there any cuts? Slashes? Marks?”  
  
Audrey’s nose wrinkled, and the boys stared at her with equal expressions of “what the hell?”  
  
“Ew, Evie, I didn’t stop to play coroner,” Audrey vehemently denied.  
  
Evie was unfortunately acquainted with those looks, her cheeks turning hot under their stares.  
  
“…I’m sorry, I have to go,” she quickly said, getting to her feet and slinging her bag over her shoulder.  
  
She couldn’t remember the last time her feet moved so fast, she practically flew across the courtyard and back into the school building. Everyone at lunch, halls empty, Evie sped her way to the girls’ locker room, finding it handily without the use of her map like adrenaline and heightened senses had led her right to it. The heavy double doors were locked against curious eyes, no surprise there. But for Evie, locked doors were merely…a suggestion. She paused, strained her ears, listening for any sort of approach. None. She was alone in the hallway. So her fingers, with their well-manicured nails, curled delicately around one of the door handles.  
  
And with one single yank, she snapped the locks, and the door opened.  
  
It was a bit of a sad commentary on her life, the fact that slinking around a dim and dank locker room in search of a dead body didn’t particularly strike her as unusual. Evie’s breath caught when she found the bodybag, not at the sight of it, but at the thought of what she might find inside. The zipper was like ice between her fingertips, the sound of the bag opening was deafening in her ears.  
  
He appeared to be in his early twenties, far too old to pass for even the most held back of seniors. So how did he end up shoved into the cold, dark lockers of Sunnydale High? Breaking and entering after hours? Dumped at the closest and most convenient place? It wasn’t Evie’s job to deduce. It was her job to look at where his head lolled limply to the side with the unzipping of the bodybag, his skin pale and stretched.  
  
Two dark puncture marks sunk deep into his neck.  
  
“…Oh,  _crap.”_

* * *

The librarian’s aide was right where Evie had found him the last time, ducked down behind the counter with his head peeking up curiously at the sound of the doors closing.  
  
“Hi, hello, me again,” Evie quickly said, striding right up to the front counter. “Quick question, what’s going on here?”  
  
Ben stood up, frowning.  
  
“I don’t know what you—”  
  
“Oh, I’m sure you heard all the commotion. Dead body found on campus, the poor guy shoved into a locker, classes cancelled, all of that. But funny story, turns out he has these two tiny holes in his neck, and although it’s not my professional opinion, I’d say it looks remarkably like his blood’s been drained.”  
  
For a moment, Ben couldn’t say anything at all. He just stood and watched Evie with wide, lost eyes.  
  
“…That’s what I was afraid of,” he eventually murmured.  
  
“Afraid of what? Vampires on campus?”  
  
“Well, yeah, actually.”  
  
Evie narrowed her eyes, letting her hands settle on her hips.  
  
“Who  _are_ you?” she demanded.  
  
Ben moved out from behind the desk to stand face to face with Evie.  
  
“Benjamin Florian. Sunnydale High graduate, library aide…and Watcher, like my mom was before me.”  
  
It suddenly all made sense. Evie rather wished it didn’t.  
  
“…So you’re a Watcher,” she repeated.  
  
“And you’re a Slayer,” Ben said. “One girl in all the world with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires, to stop the spread of their evil.”  
  
“ _The_ Slayer,” Evie reflexively corrected, before realizing what she’d just said and shaking her senses back. “I mean the  _ex_ -Slayer!”  
  
Ben shook his head, looking slightly confused.  
  
“Being the Slayer is a sacred calling, you can’t just give it up like a position on the student council or something,” he explained.  
  
“You don’t know a thing about me. I’m not some ass-kicking sacred warrior, I’m a girl who likes clothes, and makeup, and having nice nails.”  
  
“You can’t be both?” Ben shrugged.  
  
“No, I can’t,” Evie snapped.  
  
She started to walk away, deciding she was done with the conversation, but Ben followed.  
  
“Sunnydale isn’t like any other place you’ve ever been to,” he began, his words bringing Evie to a stop. “The supernatural is drawn to this town, it’s not just vampires. And…I think it’s getting worse. I think something even bigger than the vampires is coming.”  
  
Evie sighed, grudgingly turning to face the boy once more.  
  
“What do you mean? What is ‘something even bigger’ supposed to mean?”  
  
Ben lowered his voice, even though they were the only two in the library.  
  
“The supernatural activity here in Sunnydale has been growing over the past few years. It’s like the monsters are gathering for something, coming together in strength and numbers. When was the last time you heard of vampires bold enough to hide their victims practically in plain sight at a public high school?”  
  
“Or dumb enough,” Evie mumbled. “If you’re so in the know, why don’t  _you_  fight the vampires?”  
  
“Me??” Ben laughed nervously. “But I’m not the Slayer, I’m a Watcher.”  
  
“You can’t be both?” Evie mocked. “Look, I’m sure you’re very nice, and I’m sure this fighting evil thing is a noble cause, but I have both been there and done that. And I’m not doing it anymore. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a gym class to not attend.”  
  
She stormed out again, as storming out appeared to be the only way she knew how to leave the library. A dumbfounded Ben watched her get all the way through the double doors before he followed after.  
  
“Evie, wait a second!”  
  
She wouldn’t wait, wouldn’t stop, and the two of them left an empty library behind.  
  
Empty save for Jay, slinking out from behind a bookshelf with a textbook in hand and furrowed eyebrows creasing his expression.  
  
“Okay…weird…”

* * *

Carlos sure hadn’t been kidding about the bad part of town.  
  
At this time of night, it was dark, it was gloomy. The little light from the streetlamps and the flickering moon above fading in and out with the clouds threw strange and eerie shadows all around Evie as she walked the streets, and later, the back alleys. And she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being followed.  
  
She felt eyes on her, even though hers were the only pair in sight. She wisely paused every now and then to listen for footsteps behind her, but heard nothing. By all rights, she was alone among the dingy alleyways and looming brick warehouses. Yet it didn’t stop her from quickening her pace, almost at a jog as she turned a corner and ducked down another alley.  
  
And when her follower turned and ducked into the same alley, hot on her heels, Evie had vanished. Nothing here but shadows, rusted trashcans, torn and tattered posters clinging desperately to the walls.  
  
“…What the hell…?” the stalker whispered to herself.  
  
Getting the words out just before the forceful kick of a heeled boot struck her from behind, sending her flying forward onto the concrete and knocking the wind out of her as she tumbled and landed flat on her back.  
  
“I have really good ears,” Evie said, standing over the stalker and crossing her arms with a threatening glower.  
  
“Among other things. Killer side kicks being one of them,” the girl groaned.  
  
She was Evie’s age, maybe a little older, maybe a little younger, her small and petite form doing nothing to alleviate her threat level in Evie’s eyes. It was hard to tell in the terrible alley light, and even harder to tell with her laying there on the ground, but when the girl gathered herself and got to her feet, Evie saw waves of purple hair swaying with her every move.  
  
“Why were you following me?” Evie demanded, uncrossing her arms to warily raise fists in case she needed them.  
  
“Not for my health, apparently,” the girl awkwardly reached her arm around to rub at her back.  
  
“Listen, I’m on my way to start a social life, a thing which—judging by the way you follow beautiful girls around in dark alleys—you don’t seem to have. So just hurry up and tell me what it is that you want so I can be on my way.”  
  
“I want to see the vampires dust. Same as you,” the strange girl said easily, casually.  
  
Evie was regretting the move to this town more and more with each passing hour.  
  
“That’s not what I want,” she firmly denied. “Not by a long shot. I want everyone to keep all this vampire talk away from me and I want to be left alone.”  
  
Evie lowered her fists and pushed past the girl, intent on leaving the whole conversation behind and simply continuing on her way.  
  
“Do you even know where you are?” the girl asked, turning to follow Evie with her eyes.  
  
“One horrible alleyway in a long line of horrible alleyways?”  
  
“The mouth of hell,” the girl said seriously, her tone of voice hardening. “Sunnydale isn’t like any other place you’ve ever been to.”  
  
“…So I’ve heard.”  
  
“The vamps are just one small part of it. Bigger and badder things are coming, and with you here, now, you have to be ready.”  
  
“Ready for what?”  
  
“…For The Harvest.”  
  
Evie stood rooted to the spot for a moment, unsure what to think or what to say.  
  
“…Sounds cheerful,” she eventually murmured.  
  
“It’s a job for the Slayer. Which I know is you, so…here.”  
  
The stranger reached a hand into the pocket of her leather jacket, taking out a small black box and coming in close enough to hand it to Evie. Evie was hesitant.  
  
“…As backwards and stuck in the dark ages as my mother is, she taught me to only accept gifts from handsome boys, not pretty girls.”  
  
A sly smile brightened the stranger’s face just the slightest. Evie could suddenly see the enchanting jade of her eyes.  
  
“Then don’t think of it as a gift. Think of it as a weapon. Did your mom ever say anything about taking weapons from pretty girls?”  
  
“Technically, no.”  
  
So Evie took the little box in her own hands, and opened it to find a necklace, a tiny silver cross with one sapphire stud sitting neatly in the center.  
  
“…How did you know blue was my color?” Evie asked, tracing a finger along the sapphire.  
  
She didn’t realize that the girl was close enough now to lift a hand, and softly run her fingers through a strand of Evie’s hair.  
  
“I took a wild guess,” she said.  
  
Then she was walking away, leaving Evie behind, the sound of her footsteps bouncing and echoing off the brick walls.  
  
“Who are you?” Evie called after her, getting her senses back.  
  
“A friend.”  
  
And then the girl was gone.  
  
Evie was no fool. Town full of vampires and a free cross up for grabs? She fastened the silvery chain around her neck and slipped the box into the pocket of her own jacket.  
  
The Isle was nearby, Evie just followed her ears a couple alleys over to where the blaring music pounded out of what was once an old industrial building, the name of the now-nightclub hanging over the side entrance in neon. Inside reflected outside in the dim lighting, the dark and gritty atmosphere. She found Carlos sitting at the bar with a soda in hand, turned around on his stool to watch the live band playing up on stage.  
  
“Hi,” she cheerily greeted, hopping up onto the stool next to him.  
  
“Hey! You made it!” Carlos smiled at her.  
  
“Monday night, what else am I supposed to do? Homework?” Evie laughed.  
  
Carlos laughed along with her, ordering a second soda for her. Evie peered around him, then scanned the dancing crowd as well as she could.  
  
“Where are the guys?” she asked.  
  
“Doug’s car is broken down,  _again_ , so Jay had to pick him up. They should be on their way,” Carlos said simply, his head bobbing along to the music.  
  
“Almost reminds me of L.A.,” Evie mused, taking in the nightclub scene.  
  
“You’d be the first one to say that about anything in Sunnydale,” Carlos chuckled. “What brings you to Sunnydale, anyway?”  
  
Evie’s mother didn’t work, no no. She had been a “smart girl” and did what every “smart girl” did; married young, married rich, and now lived off the trust fund of a father Evie had never even known. But even before leaving Los Angeles, Evie had decided that “my mom changed jobs” rolled off the tongue a lot smoother than “I burned down the gymnasium fighting my first vampire invasion and got kicked out of school without so much as a thank you”.  
  
“My mom changed jobs. Moved us here. Fresh starts all around.”  
  
“Fresh starts are nice,” Carlos agreed, sipping his drink.  
  
Evie didn’t even have time to revel in the joy of Carlos not inquiring what kind of work her mom did (a lie she hadn’t quite come up with yet), because up on the club’s second story landing was an unfortunately familiar face.  
  
“…Hey, Carlos, I’ll be right back,” she distractedly patted his knee.  
  
“Sure thing.”  
  
She left him behind, weaving through the dancing crowd and finding the short metal stairway. She climbed the steps, and was met with a Round Two of navigating a sea of bodies bobbing and swaying to the music to get where she needed to go.  
  
“…So. A librarian at the nightclub? Talk about breaking stereotypes,” she said over the music.  
  
Ben hadn’t even noticed her approach or presence until she spoke.   
  
“Evie! There you are!” he looked surprised to see her, even though his words implied he’d been waiting to. “I’m not here to party, I’m here because I thought you’d show.”  
  
“How sweet,” Evie rolled her eyes.  
  
Leaning over the railing and looking down at the dancefloor below, Evie figured that since she’d made it this far, she could hear him out one last time.  
  
“Evie, I know it’s a hard thing to accept, being normal for sixteen years and then getting called to be the Slayer, but you can’t just run away from it,” he said.  
  
“You know it’s a hard thing to accept?” Evie repeated, raising an eyebrow. “You know what it’s like to carry a crushing secret, day in and day out? One that isolates you from your friends and family? You know what it’s like to suddenly realize the person you thought you were your whole life actually isn’t you at all, and that you can’t even come out to  _anyone_ about it because it might put them—or you—in danger?”  
  
Ben hung his head ashamedly.  
  
“…Alright, no, I don’t. But Evie, I’m your Watcher. I know your secret, you can talk to _me_  about it.”  
  
“I appreciate the offer, but that didn’t work out so well for my last Watcher.”  
  
“…It’s a dangerous path, yes, but the world needs a Slayer. Especially since—”  
  
“Since The Harvest is coming. I’ve already heard,” Evie interrupted.  
  
Ben went blank. He came in closer.   
  
“The what?”   
  
They were close enough now to simply talk over the music, their voices low.  
  
“The Harvest,” Evie repeated, meeting Ben’s confused frown with her own. “Isn’t that what you were about to say?”  
  
“No, I—what’s The Harvest??”  
  
Evie shook her head.  
  
“I have no idea. I just hit monsters, the riddles are your job. There was this girl I ran into out in the alley…not exactly the most reliable of sources now that I’m saying it out loud, but she said bigger and badder things were coming, bigger and badder than just vampires. That I had to be ready for The Harvest. And also, something about 'the mouth of hell’. Sounds about right for a girl who stalks dark alleyways.”  
  
“What girl was this?” Ben wondered.  
  
“I didn’t get a name. She’s about our age, with purple hair. She called herself a friend.”  
  
“…Well, anyone who shows up with ominous warnings instead of letting the evil just come right to us definitely sounds like a friend,” Ben mused.  
  
Speaking of friends…  
  
Evie cast her eyes back down to the first floor, gaze traveling from person to person until her sights came to rest on the bar. And a nervous-looking Carlos wearing a cutely nervous smile as a blonde-haired girl stood over him and talked.  
  
“Oh no…” Evie gasped.  
  
“What?”  
  
She pointed. Waited for Ben to catch up with her line of sight.  
  
“Who’s that?” Ben questioned.  
  
“ _That_ at the bar is Carlos, and  _that_  standing next to him is a vampire,” Evie quickly answered.  
  
“A vampire? Are you sure??”  
  
Evie stopped just long enough to give him a shove before she tore herself away from the railing.  
  
“I’m the Slayer, remember??”  
  
She bolted back down the stairs, shoes clanging loudly against every step in her rush. But it had been a while, she’d forgotten how sneaky and slick vampires could be. Carlos and his newfound friend were already gone.  
  
“Oh, hell!!” _  
_  
Manners and niceties went out the window; Evie’s mother would have a fit if she knew she was shoving her way through the crowd, roughly urging others to move as she searched this way and that for even the tiniest glimpse of Carlos. Nothing.  
  
She met Jay outside The Isle the same way she’d met him at school—by running smack into him. She kept her balance this time, not falling ungracefully onto her butt, and Jay was alight with a grin.  
  
“Evie! Hey! Glad you came.”  
  
“Jay!” Evie blurted. “Doug!”  
  
“Hi,” Doug waved and smiled.  
  
She didn’t have time for pleasantries.  
  
“Did you see Carlos just now?” she demanded.  
  
Jay and Doug exchanged a look.  
  
“We just got here,” Jay answered on behalf of both of them.  
  
“Damn it,” Evie hissed under her breath, starting to storm away.  
  
Jay urged Doug inside the club, first with a gestured wave and then with a push, before trailing after Evie.  
  
“Hey, what’s up?” he asked.  
  
“I have to find Carlos.”  
  
Evie didn’t even break her stride, starting to circle the parking lot.  
  
“Why? Does he already owe you money or something?” Jay joked.  
  
Evie wasn’t in a laughing mood.  
  
“No, I saw him leave with a girl, he…nevermind.”  
  
She couldn’t very well explain it to Jay, so she just let her words drop. Still no sign of Carlos. Her better-than-average hearing couldn’t even catch footsteps that weren’t her own or Jay’s.  
  
“Carlos left with a girl? Doesn’t sound like him,” Jay shoved his hands into his pockets.  
  
“It doesn’t?” that brought Evie to a stop.  
  
“Carlos? Not really. He’s more interested in staying at home with his video games and his computer than he is in dating. Hey, maybe the girl was a vampire! Used that whole vampiric thrall thing to lure Carlos away and now you have to go and slay her!”  
  
Evie was really tired of this feeling in her chest today like her heart had been dropped to plummet down an elevator shaft.  
  
“…What, did someone post it to the school’s Twitter or something? Is there anyone here in Sunnydale who  _doesn’t_  know I’m the Slayer??” she couldn’t help that her voice was raising with tight tension.  
  
Jay broke into a laugh.  
  
“I’m just messing with you, Evie. I overheard you and that new aide talking in the library today, and…” his laughed slowed, faded, dropped out of sight entirely when he saw the bewildered expression on Evie’s face. “…And you  _aren’t_ messing, are you?”  
  
“No, Jay, I’m not. And if we don’t find them soon, then one dead kid at Sunnydale High suddenly becomes two.”  
  
Evie didn’t mean to take out her frustration on Jay, for her tone to snap and slice the way it did. Really, she didn’t mean for it to.  
  
She was just having one hell of a day.

* * *

Beneath Evie’s feet, beneath Jay’s, beneath the feet of the oblivious teenage throng dancing the night away inside The Isle; deep within the bowels of Sunnydale was a cavern. The city was just as teeming below as it was above, things crawled underneath its surface. Rats in the sewers, bugs in the earth, worms in the cemeteries, and deep, deep below…vampires in the caverns. There was no need for the creatures to hide themselves here, far from the prying eyes of the mortals tucked safe in their beds or curled up on their couches. Here, the vampires wore their savage masks proudly—wandering about in flickering candle and torchlight with piercing yellow eyes, monstrously furrowed brows, fangs bared. They wandered, they ambled.  
  
One knelt. Before a crimson pool of blood.  
  
“Arise…” he chanted, head bowed, messy red hair falling over a black eyepatch.  
  
The other vampires came in closer, closer, their sickly gazes watching.  
  
“Arise…” the vampire’s words tugged at the angrily raised scar running down his chin, a trophy of battles long past.  
  
It was like electricity in the air, tingling senses long since dead. The pool of blood bubbled and boiled.  
_  
“…Arise!!”_  
  
A roar of a command, the blood almost threatening to geyser right there in front of them all.  
  
And then she arose, floating gracefully, effortlessly to and through the surface of the pool like a siren emerging from an enchanted lake. The vampire opened his one good eye, spared a moment to watch her come to life in reverent awe before bounding to his feet and offering her a hand. She was untouched by blood, as if no force on earth or beyond would dare mar her appearance. A mass of coiled black curls cascaded down her back, a stark contrast to her pale skin. Her seedy, yet still entrancing eyes narrowed at the scene around her as she took her fellow vampire’s hand and stepped a soft slipper onto the cavern floor.  
  
“Enough with the yelling, I’m awake,” she said, a bored yawn exposing her fangs before she daintily brought a hand to her mouth to cover said yawn.  
  
The burly vampire dropped to one knee, kissing the woman’s hand.  
  
“Master Gothel,” he said her name like it was a prayer, as if vampires were inclined to such things.  
  
Gothel actually paid him attention now, tilting her head down to get her first clear glimpse of him.  
  
“Look at you, with your sinister little eyepatch. How quaint, I’ll call you Patchy,” she laughed at herself. “I’m only joking darling, don’t be so serious.”  
  
“My name is whatever you wish, Master.”  
  
Gothel raised a brow.  
  
“Spineless groveling? I adore it. Go on.”  
  
The newly-christened “Patchy” rose to his feet, escorting Master Gothel through the cavern. Other vampires bowed their heads as the two passed.  
  
“The Harvest is almost upon us,” her lackey said.  
  
“'Almost’? Patchy dear, do you think it’s  _easy_ staying this young and beautiful without fresh blood running through my veins?”  
  
“I have minions out aboveground, hunting down sacrifices to tide your hunger until The Harvest.”  
  
“Really? Wonderful!” Gothel patted his arm. “What a smart boy, you’ve talked me into not killing you. I’m only  _teasing_ Patchy dear, I wouldn’t kill someone as useful as you. Smile a little.”  
  
Patchy managed a fang-toothed grimace. That was as close to a smile as he could get.  
  
“When The Harvest comes you will be free, Master, free to take back the human world and feed your eternal youth to your heart’s content.”  
  
“Splendid,” Gothel purred. “Why don’t you go aboveground yourself? The fresh air will do you good.”  
  
“As you wish, Master.”  
  
The vampire bowed his head and started for the tunnels, the sprawling catacombs leading into and out of the cavern.  
  
“Oh, Patchy darling?”  
  
“Yes, Master Gothel?”  
  
“Be sure to bring me something…young.”

* * *

Carlos was smart. Mainly tech smart, but also book smart, and even a little street smart. And street smart told him you didn’t go wandering through graveyards on a dark, moonlit night.  
  
“…Hey, um, the ice cream place is a whole two streets over,” he pointed his thumb back over his shoulder for emphasis.  
  
The blonde girl had only briefly introduced herself in The Isle before yanking Carlos away on a quest for frozen desserts, he couldn’t quite remember her name. Darlene? Daria? Darla? He felt it rude to ask now.  
  
“This is a shortcut,” she told him with a sly smile, slinking among the headstones, padding softly as if trying not to wake the dead.  
  
With a gulp, Carlos padded after her, trying very very hard himself not to wake anything he didn’t want to see awake.  
  
She stopped in front of him, so abruptly that Carlos almost thudded right into her.  
  
“These are so cool, don’t you think?” she asked.  
  
Carlos looked up at the tall, looming structure of a mausoleum, vines creeping up its weathered marble.  
  
“…Sure, if houses full of dead people are suddenly 'cool’,” he grimly muttered.  
  
What happened next happened in a blur. A flash of blonde, hands clenching his shoulders in a painful grip, the door to the mausoleum flying open and Carlos being thrown onto the dank and dirty floor within. A giggle behind him was the first thing he registered when he got his senses back.  
  
“Gotcha.”  
  
He frantically scrambled to his feet, brushing who-knows-what manner of grime and dust off his jacket.  
  
“Hey, what the heck?? That wasn’t funny!” he yelled.  
  
“Really? I thought it was funny.”  
  
Carlos’ features turned into an angry pout.  
  
“…You know what, I think I’m gonna pass on the ice cream. Thanks,” his voice was shaky.  
  
And the girl was blocking his way out.  
  
“…Come on. Let me go,” Carlos insisted, trying and failing to steady his voice.  
  
The girl seemed to contemplate it, her head tilting to the side in thought. And then, with a pleasant smile, she stepped out of the way. Let Carlos walk out. Only for him to be grabbed once again by a different pair of hands and thrown back inside once more. This girl had long and wavy hair of ebony, and a vicious smirk set firmly on her lips.  
  
“Leaving so soon?” she taunted.  
  
How Carlos was sorely wishing Jay was here.  
  
“…Carlos?”  
  
It wasn’t Jay and his muscles, but a friendly face nonetheless.  
  
“Doug!!” Carlos exclaimed.  
  
Doug was following behind the new arrival, glasses slightly askew and appearing a tad worse for the wear.  
  
“Doug, what are you doing here??”  
  
“I…I don’t know. I was at The Isle, and then suddenly I remember walking, and…” he swayed on his feet and rubbed at his neck. “…I think something bit me.”  
  
Carlos’ girl narrowed her eyes accusingly at the raven-haired newcomer.  
  
“You’re sampling now?”  
  
The other girl shrugged, unperturbed.  
  
“I was hungry. It’s been a long night.”  
  
“It’s not even eight, you moron.”  
  
“…Doug, come on, let’s just get out of here,” Carlos quietly said.  
  
Like shifty predators toying with their food, the two girls allowed Doug to shuffle over to Carlos before they began to close in, trapping the boys inside the mausoleum.  
  
“You aren’t leaving,” the maybe-Darla said.  
  
Doug worryingly swayed some more. Carlos put a hand on his shoulder to steady him, his sudden fear for his friend outweighing his fear of being cornered within a tomb.  
  
“Hey, back off!!” he snapped, no longer shaking.  
  
Neither girl was fazed.  
  
“I  _said_ , you aren’t leaving!”  
  
They morphed right before Carlos’ eyes, what he at first thought was a trick of the overall lack of light definitely not a trick with grotesquely wrinkled faces, raised brows, and long, pointed canines. Carlos and Doug leapt back with identical screams, Carlos’ perhaps a bit more high-pitched than his friend’s.  
  
“Oh, a mausoleum? Really? Girls, please, watch HGTV every once in a while, I know you have the time on your hands.”  
  
Doug’s bleary eyes focused long enough for him to trace the voice to the entrance.  
  
“Evie?” he murmured.  
  
“And Jay!” Carlos saw his best friend standing close behind Evie.  
  
She strutted right in, apparently not bothered by the unusual scene in front of her.  
  
“Who the hell are you supposed to be?” maybe-Darla demanded.  
  
The two girls started to circle Evie, but an unintimidated Evie circled them right back in turn.  
  
“Hi, I’m Evie,” she waved at them with a smile. “Can I give you two some advice? This whole look you have going on? Fashion don’t. Accessorizing is everything, and a little color in your wardrobe won’t kill you. I mean,  _literally_ won’t kill you.”  
  
The dark-haired one charged at Evie with no warning, save for an animalistic snarl. The boys didn’t even have time to call out fearful cries of “Look out!” before Evie, in one lightning fast movement, snatched a wooden stake out from her jacket pocket and plunged it right into the girl’s chest.  
  
Dust. The girl burst into dust and nothingness as if she’d been incinerated from the inside out.  
  
“A little color won’t kill you,” Evie eyed the stake in her grip. “ _This,_ on the other hand…”  
  
Feared turned to fearful as the blonde backed away from Evie, her yellowed eyes wide.  
  
“…How did you—?”  
  
“It’s easy with you guys,” Evie interrupted. “Stake through the heart, a little sunlight, it’s like falling off a log. Jay! Get them out of here!”  
  
The sight of Jay fearlessly rushing in for Carlos and Doug snapped the blonde out of it.  
  
“Not so fast!” she swung a fist at Evie.  
  
Evie blocked. Curled her painted nails around the girl’s arm to hold her in place as she drove a knee into her stomach. She could practically hear the wind go out of her, and didn’t let her have any time to breathe before she held her hand rigid like a knife’s edge and brought it down with a fierce strike right onto the girls back, dropping her to the stone floor.  
  
“Hurry!” Evie urged the boys.   
  
Jay had one of Doug’s arms slung around his shoulder, Carlos had the other, and together the three made it out of the mausoleum and back into the night.  
  
“We can’t leave her in there!” was the first thing out of Carlos’ mouth.  
  
“And we can’t help her if we’re dead,” Jay argued. “Believe me, she’s got this.”  
  
She did indeed, stepping away as the vampire got back to her feet and going on to duck every punch, pivot out of reach of every kick. Her own punches, her own kicks, they landed handily, and soon enough the blonde was back on the ground, breathing heavily and not so quick to get up the second time around. And Evie kept her down, planting one expensive boot on the vampire’s chest like she was doing little more than propping her feet up on a comfy ottoman after a long and tiring day.  
  
“I’m supposed to be retired,” Evie said. “I did my job, I saved my old high school, and now I’m done. Sunnydale was my fresh start, my chance to put everything behind me, but no, the supernatural just  _had_  to follow me all the way from Los Angeles, didn’t it?”  
  
“How…how are you so strong?” the girl wheezed under her feet.  
  
“You’re a vampire. Do you really not know who I am?”   
  
Five calloused fingers closed around Evie’s neck, the pinch jolting its way up and down her spine as someone’s iron clad grip lifted her off her feet. She tried to gasp, to utter some sort of cry of surprise, but she had no breath, no oxygen to gasp with.  
  
“I don’t need to know who you are,” a menacing voice growled in her ear. She smelled the crisp, metallic tang of blood.  
  
And then the world spun around her as she was hurled through the air like she was nothing more than a toy, a ragdoll to be played with. The ringing in her ears was instantaneous as she crashed first into the marble wall and then onto the floor with an equally painful thud. If she were anyone but the Slayer, she wouldn’t even be conscious anymore. Her head spun terribly, but still she managed to clamber to her feet, and the stars cleared from her eyes in time for her to get a look at the second vampire hulking towards her, one eye glowering and the other hidden behind an eyepatch.  
  
“It isn’t safe for little girls to be out after dark,” he taunted.  
  
Evie didn’t even grace him with a comeback, she just prayed for her balance to hold out as she caught her foe right in the chest with a jump kick. He staggered, but only barely, Evie’s attack practically glancing right off him. A right hook, driven straight into his jaw. Surely that would do some damage.   
  
No such luck.  
  
Evie backed up, putting strategic distance between them as she rubbed at her knuckles with a grimace. It was just the two of them now, the blonde had scurried off.  
  
“Your fighting spirit is admirable,” the vampire grumbled.  
  
Evie’s right hook was gifted right back to her. Stars returned as she collided again with a wall.  
  
“So the little girl has come to town to stop The Harvest.”  
  
“Not exactly,” Evie groaned, her voice raspy. “But since I’m already here, I figured, hey, what the hell.”  
  
If her strength wasn’t the key, she counted on her reflexes, whipping around with her stake in hand once more and her sights trained on the vampire’s un-beating heart. But he had reflexes too, and that same iron grip stopped her by the wrist when the sharp point of the stake was just inches away.  
  
“You are in over your head,” the vampire warned her, his free hand grabbing Evie by the collar and yanking her in far too close for comfort. “One girl can’t stop an army, one girl can’t even stop me!”  
  
“Get her mad enough and she can.”  
  
Evie reared back and headbutted him, freeing herself as the vampire bellowed in surprise and brought his hands to his head. She jumped back with fists raised, stake in hand, eyes locked in on her enemy’s every move. He didn’t charge, didn’t come in swinging, he simply walked, casually idled across the mausoleum like he was on an evening stroll.  
  
“If you’re so damn chatty why don’t you go ahead and fill me in on this Harvest?” Evie sharply said.  
  
“There is no need.”  
  
Evie was rusty. Off her game. The months of “retirement” had dulled her skills, clouded her senses, allowed the vampire to take hold of her and flip her into the open stone coffin resting at the tomb’s center. She was at least thankful for a soft landing this time, not so much for the decayed skeleton laying at her side.  
  
Or the vampire leaping into the coffin after her, his weight pinning her down in a cruel mockery of how she’d pinned the other down just minutes earlier. She couldn’t move, couldn’t fight. The hulking monster hovering over her cut off her only escape, and being trapped flat on her back had her completely vulnerable, completely at the vampire’s mercy.  
  
“…You won’t be alive to see it,” he snarled.  
  
Evie’s racing heartbeat was in her ears, pounding her chest. Instinct and muscles alike screamed at her to move, to struggle, to do  _something_ , but all of it was in vain. Trapped. Defenseless. Alone.  
  
A sickening pair of razor sharp fangs coming in right for her throat.


End file.
